Kamen steps aside as city council starts audit

LAE city manager Roy Kamen has agreed to stand aside while an audit is conducted into the Lae City Council accounts. Lae MP John Rosso revealed this during a breakfast he and Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu had with members of the Lae business community yesterday. “(My) first order of business is to get the council’s house in order and running properly,” Rosso said. “I have had a discussion with the city manager (Kamen). He has a lot of allegations levelled against him. “We (Rosso, Kamen and acting administrator Sheila Harou) had a fruitful discussion on Monday and he agreed to my suggestion to stand aside. I will put an acting administrator in place commencing Monday.” The audit will be conducted by officers from the Office of the Provincial and Local Level Government in Port Moresby. “If it’s (books are) in order, he gets his job back. If not, we’ll give him the chance to explain,” Rosso said. “In the meantime, Robin Calistus, district administrator, will be acting city manager for a couple of months.” Rosso said there were a lot of allegations against the city management so it was in the best interest of everyone that the council’s books be audited. Kamen told The National he would go on leave to allow the audit team to do its job. Kamen said he was a career public servant and had nothing to hide. “It’s not a suspension. The MP wants me to step aside and allow an audit team to check our books,” Kamen said. “According to the MP, there are so many allegations levelled against the council so he wants the books checked. “I will go on leave and give time to the auditors to check the books.” Kamen said the books had been audited up to 2014.